Track 22 - Fake It
Now that Leinani had won her fourth badge, the two were headed off for the next step on their journey. While they were eager to continue, they weren't quite ready to leave the beauty of Akala Island. The day after Leinani defeated Plumeria, the two leisurely made their way back to Heahea City through Route 6.
Leinani observed her four current badges. She always knew that she was destined to win them, but she never imagined what they'd actually look like up close. It had been such a short amount of time, and in less than two months, she was able to get more than half of what was necessary. She knew that the remaining two gym leaders wouldn't be easy though.
She slowly polished her Pest Badge, which she had received from Guzma. Up until the day prior, it had been her most precious badge, as she had to work hardest for it.
But she also had a soft spot for her Arctic Badge. She won it from Uhuli, who she admired. She didn't quite understand her feelings, and everyone claimed that they knew that she had a thing for the gym leader. Maybe she did, but what would it matter? He was five years older and couldn't be concerned with little girls like her.
She looked at her Kinetic Badge. She was disgusted that she had to keep it in her collection. Xerxes didn't seem to have too much of an issue with flirting with Leinani, despite the age difference, and she hoped to see him in jail someday. It might have been just psychological warfare on the gym leader's half, but it still made her blood boil.
And then there was her new Venom Badge. It was her new treasure; she had to work two weeks to get to a decent enough level. She trained with her Pokémon and studied the Pokédex during that time. She prepared for Plumeria's team, and at the end of the day, she managed a victory.
"Only two more," she muttered to herself.
"Leilei," Kaiko said while pulling lightly on Leinani's belt and getting her attention. He pointed off down the route where a group of people was coming from. They were walking their way, and the sight of them made Leinani laugh.
It was a group of people dressed in white clothes. The leader of the group wore green goggles over his eyes, and his neck was arched from consistent bad posture. When the group saw Leinani and Kaiko, they talked with one another quietly.
"The Aether Foundation," Kaiko said. He felt Marshadow's energy flare up, but he made sure to not react, as he didn't want to look suspicious.
"More like the Aether Nerds," Leinani exclaimed with a laugh.
"We can hear you," the leader, Faba, said. "How rude?"
"I don't say things unless they can be heard, numbnuts," Leinani responded with a sneer.
Faba looked bothered, but he wasn't exactly sure how to tackle the situation. He had never gotten into a war of words with a child, let alone a young lady.
"Well, let me just say that the Aether Nerds is a terrible insult!" Faba said, thinking that he won.
"Nice white outfits. You all look like a sack of trash bags waiting to be picked up and thrown around," Leinani exclaimed.
Faba adjusted his goggles and got closer. He was hoping that he could intimidate Leinani by being taller than her, but she wasn't afraid. Neither was Kaiko. The two stood their ground, and Faba wasn't expecting it. He wasn't sure what to say next, so he turned away and looked towards the sky.
"Have either of you two seen anything suspicious as of recently?" he asked. "We've been tracking a few incidents on Akala Island that occurred near here, and maybe you two know something about them."
"I saw something," Leinani said, her smile fading away.
"Huh?"
"Yeah, these dorks," Leinani exclaimed while motioning towards the group. "With the way you're dressed, there's an incident waiting to happen. You're pretty much saying Bully me! Bully me!"
"Listen, little girl-" Faba started while he lunged forward, but he was put to an abrupt stop whenever Leinani grabbed his wrist and twisted it around. He screeched at the unfamiliar pain and then faced towards his subordinates, his eyes begging for help.
"You're not supposed to hurt people, Leilei," Kaiko said while helping Faba to get free. "Dad said only to use kung fu to defend yourself."
"I felt threatened."
"I can guarantee that's a lie," he responded with an exasperated sigh. He slowly helped Faba get free from Leinani's grasp.
"Kung fu?" Faba wondered while he felt at his wrist, making sure that it wasn't shattered. "You don't strike me as the kind of boy who can do kung fu."
"Looks can be deceiving. I'm a purple belt," Kaiko said. "My sister is only an orange belt."
"Only orange?" Leinani yelled. "What do you mean only?!"
Faba looked at his group of subordinates, clicked his tongue, and then eyed Kaiko. "You strike me as the scholarly kind of kid. Am I at least correct in saying this?"
Kaiko shrugged. "I like to study, yeah."
"Like to study?" Leinani said after blowing a raspberry. "This dork is practically always reading."
"I'm not talking to you, little girl."
"I'm gonna break your wrist next time."
Kaiko forced himself between Leinani and Faba, making sure to give them enough distance. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, as you know, we're a part of the illustrious Aether Foundation!" Faba exclaimed. "I say that we bring our little rivalry of words to a truce. I'd like to personally invite you to our island to check out the facility. We have dozens of wild Pokémon that we're rehabilitating, and I'm personally in charge of all of the technological and health advancements. I'm sure that you'd find it fascinating. What do you say?"
"I'm not sure. I'm interested in learning more. I especially want to see what you do with the injured Pokémon to help them get back into the wild," Kaiko answered. He looked at Leinani. "But, I can't go without my sister."
"And I don't want to go!" Leinani exclaimed before putting her hands on her hips.
Faba recoiled slightly and then put his finger to his chin while he thought over his next sentence. He was afraid that if he misspoke, Leinani would snap his wrist.
"Well, you should be interested in the island, girl," he said. "After all, you're aiming to enter the Manalo Conference, correct?" He motioned to Leinani's Rowlet, who was sleeping on her hat.
Leinani eased up a little bit. "That's true."
"Then wouldn't it be wise to give the Aether Paradise a visit sometime?"
"I don't see how that would help me," Leinani answered with a deadpan expression.
"Because it's wise to understand where your battles are. You'll get to see the fields beforehand and make strategies. Knowing your surroundings is half the battle," Faba snapped. "I took you for a strong and wise trainer, but you come off as very amateur."
"What was that?"
"Nothing!"
Kaiko made sure to keep himself in between the two. "Come to think of it, in sports, there's some kind of advantage to playing on fields that you're familiar with. If you've seen the Aether Paradise field, then nothing will surprise you when you're actually at the conference. It's a psychological thing, I think."
Leinani was quiet for a moment. She didn't trust Faba, but if it meant that she was going to get ahead of her rivals, even if only psychologically, then she felt that it was something necessary.
"Fine," she said after deliberation. "Before we go to Melemele, we'll pay a visit to the Aether Paradise."
"I thought you'd say so," Faba said while reaching into his jacket, pulling out two white tickets. "These are two first-class tickets to the island, my treat. It's a short ride, but feel free to enjoy the delicious food. You're welcome."
"Thanks, dude!" Kaiko said while taking the ticket.
"Dude?" Faba wondered. "Nevermind. We have a little bit more investigating to do around here, but once we finish, we'll return to the Aether Paradise. I hope to see you there."
"Can't say I feel the same way," Leinani said back.
Faba appeared too angry to reply intelligently. He returned to the group, and they shuffled off towards Route 8.
"They make me uneasy," Leinani said. "Hippies."
"What did they say?" a voice called, catching Leinani and Kaiko's attention. They turned, finding a boy who was vaguely familiar to them, but they weren't sure from where. He had bleach blonde hair that was combed back except for the right half of his bangs. His clothes were black, and his jeans and hoodie had holes torn into them. "The Aether Foundation, what did they want with you two?"
Kaiko held up the two tickets. "We got a special offer to go visit the Aether Paradise!"
"Jealous?" Leinani asked.
The boy got in closer, and his expression changed. He appeared irate and slightly pained. "I'm not jealous. I could go if I wanted to. I don't. The Aether Foundation is dangerous. They're nothing like what they say. They claim to be for the greater good, but they're evil and vile. I've seen what they do firsthand."
"What do they do?" Kaiko asked.
The boy recoiled. "I can't say. It's better if you don't know."
Leinani stepped in front of Kaiko and sternly looked at the boy. "I'm gonna be straight with you, punk. I don't trust them. I'd say that I don't trust Faba as far as I could throw him, but he's pretty scrawny, and I can guarantee that I'd get some distance. But I don't trust them just as much as I don't trust you."
"Your clothes are sketchy," Kaiko said, poking his head out from behind Leinani. "You look like a rejected Team Skull member." He looked down at Marshadow, who had now settled down.
"Don't insult me," the boy said.
"What's your name?" Leinani asked.
"Why should I tell you?"
"Because I asked," she responded. "I'm Leinani. This is Kaiko. Now you?"
"My name is Gladion. I'm also competing to enter the Manalo Conference. But I'm doing it to take down the Aether Foundation. I'm going to become strong and then expose them. If you go to Aether Paradise like they're asking you to, you're just going to fall into a trap."
"Maybe," Leinani said. "But if we don't dive in headfirst, then we'll never figure out what's going on with them. I don't know if you can tell this by just looking at me, but I'm kind of a badass."
"Leilei, language."
"And the way that I see it, if they're bad, then going to the Aether Paradise to investigate will help expose that. If they're good, then I get an advantage by looking at the fields," she said. "So calm your little goth a-"
"Language."
"Goth butt up, and mind your own business," she said. "Got it?"
Gladion was taken back by Leinani. He usually found himself intimidating other trainers, but she wasn't shaken by him one bit. He wasn't sure if he was impressed or angry, but it was new. He straightened out and stepped back. "If you go to the Aether Paradise and get into trouble, or worse, I won't save you. Just, be careful, and don't fall for their propaganda."
"We'll be fine. They're schmucks," Leinani said before laughing to herself.
Kaiko raised his forefinger but then paused. He was unsure if 'schmuck' was a bad word or not.
Once Leinani and Kaiko were out of sight, Faba stopped moving and his group of Aether Foundation followers joined him. They parted and Faba addressed a teenager with dirty blonde hair and tanned skin.
"That boy with the Togedemaru," he said. "Was he the one your trio battled against?"
The boy had a cocky grin on his face. "Yeah. He was the one who kept us from nabbing that Marshadow."
"I want you to keep an eye on him. You and your two subordinates need to head back to the Aether Paradise immediately," Faba said.
The boy with the dirty blonde hair looked to his side where a girl with shoulder-length brown hair stood. Next to her was a black-haired boy. They all nodded to each other.
"Stay out of sight. While you're on Akala, wear your Team Skull disguise just in case."
"Got it, boss."
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
And there we be, Chapter 22. I had to go over this one a couple of times because it was almost all dialogue, and the first draft… the dialogue was horrid.
Not much to say for this chapter besides it introducing Gladion and also confirming that the three that Kaiko battled before were, in fact, Aether Foundation.
Next chapter, Leinani and Kaiko will go to the Aether Foundation to investigate a little bit. Nothing big will happen just yet, but we're gonna start building to something down the line.
REVIEWS:
wisdom-jewel - "Now they off. I love the connection between Tanium and the typing they are using. This is going to being very interesting. She'll need to catch either a fire or fighting type to win for sure. Though I do wonder if she would see her Pokemon strengths and weaknesses and conter with Tanium's specialization strengths and weakness." - I haven't written her battle with Tanium just yet. I'm kind of having trouble planning it out. Steel is a hard type to deal with, especially for Leinani's team.
CrescentApple - "That final battle was so unexpected. Clever heelface turn the way Toxapex defended a Z move. And the clever method Sandygast used to just hide in the water to avoid the Z move was perfect. Mix is my favorite in Leilani's team at the moment. Sonething so small and cute that can become large and powerful." - Out of curiosity, I'm wondering what you meant by heelface turn? In pro wrestling, it means "changing from bad guy to good guy." I also love writing for Mix. His battles are going to be slightly limited (because of course). I have to make what I battles I can do with him count.
